This week, five individuals, including senior government officials and Members of Parliament, will be summoned over their involvement in the sh147 billion war loss compensation scandal.
Security sources confirmed that summons for the five prime suspects are ready and will be served this week.
The suspects are being investigated by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit and the Criminal Investigations Directorate for their role in the mismanagement of compensation funds intended for cooperatives.
Files Ready
“The files were ready by the end of last week. A few issues had to be verified by investigators to ensure that the case against the suspects is solid and permissible in court,” a source involved in the investigations said.
Most suspects summoned to the Criminal Investigations Directorate regarding the scandal have been arrested, detained, and brought to court within 48 hours. The officials summoned this week are likely to face similar outcomes.
Last Friday, three MPs—Michael Mawanda Maranga (Igara East), Ignatius Wamakuyu Mudimi (Elgon County), and Paul Akamba (Busiki County)—were charged and remanded to jail over the multi-billion shilling cooperatives scandal.
Ongoing Investigations
The State House Anti-Corruption Unit and the Criminal Investigations Directorate are also investigating several lawyers whose firms received payments for war loss compensation meant for beneficiaries. Instead, they allegedly diverted the funds or demanded exorbitant legal fees, with some charging up to 40%.
Among those to be interrogated is a technical official in the trade ministry, frequently mentioned in a report by the Parliament sectoral committee on tourism, trade, and industry. This report, presented to Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, alleged that this individual facilitated excessive payments to some cooperatives.
Another individual expected to be summoned is a senior government minister accused of influencing excessive payments to two cooperative societies.
Recent Charges and Arrests
On Friday, four suspects, including Mawanda, Wamakuyu, Akamba, and Julius Kirya (an advocate with Kirya and Company Advocates), were charged before the Anti-Corruption Court with diverting public resources and conspiracy to defraud.
The fifth suspect, Leonard Kavundira, the assistant commissioner of cooperatives in the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, was arrested on Thursday and is expected to appear in court today on similar charges.
These arrests and court proceedings are part of a broader crackdown on corruption within the government.
Parliamentary Probe on Cooperatives
In August last year, the sectoral committee on tourism, trade, and industry was instructed by Speaker Among to investigate the status, governance, resourcing, and value for money of public funds allocated to cooperatives from the 2011/2012 to 2022/2023 financial years.
The committee, headed by Mwine Mpaka (Mbarara City South), submitted its report to Parliament in October, implicating several MPs, lawyers, and cooperative society boards in the mismanagement of funds.
The report was handed over to relevant government agencies, including the Criminal Investigations Directorate, the Inspectorate General of Government, and the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, for further investigation.
The report recommended: “The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Inspectorate General of Government should invoke their special powers of investigations under Section 33 of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009 to conduct further investigations on the following former and current Members of Parliament regarding their involvement and influence peddling in the affairs of cooperatives and specifically the management of war loss compensation.”
Earlier this month, three MPs—Yusuf Mutembuli (Bunyole East), Paul Akamba (Busiki County), and Cissy Namujju (Lwengo District Woman MP)—were arrested and charged in court for allegedly soliciting a bribe from officials of the Uganda Human Rights Commission to increase the commission’s budget for the 2024/25 financial year. They were committed to the High Court for trial last Monday.
